Surgeon General's Warning
by Umi-chii
Summary: Musica was certain there's something wrong with the kid. He just didn't expect the kid to be a pirate and--Crap! Where the hell did Haru run off to again! A Rave pirate fic, rewritten, by the self-proclaimed queen of Rave AUs.
1. It All Started with an Ass

**Disclaimer: **Umi doesn't own Rave nor the world and its seas and the birth of pirates.**  
Author's Notes: **I don't know what made me touch this again after so many years. Maybe it's because it reeks of my early days as a fanfic writer. But oh well. This one isn't really a rewrite, since I'm just fixing stuffs. But it is a better read compared to last time. I did grow, a lot, as a writer.

Also, I'm not even sure if I'll be, well, reviving this like what I did to Isle Fractions. If I end up dropping House of Harts, then that means I'm reviving this.

* * *

**Surgeon General's Warning**

**1. It all started with an ass.**

"Oi… Haru…"

Musica clutched onto the tiny sailboat's edge for dear life as he glared hard at his captain's back. It's not usual for him to suffer sea-sickness, but the air of the sea they're sailing on just didn't smell right. It's making him nauseous. He doubted he'll keep this up for the next five minutes.

"Just when are we going to land?"

"Maa… around a few more days, I suppose. I see no land." Haru said, turning around to check on his first mate. Musica sighed, and looked down at the sea forlornly. It has been nearly a week already, tagging along with this kid who had been on his journey in becoming the King of the Sea. "You sure you don't want me to help you?"

"No! Last time I let you help me, I nearly died!"

"That's mean!"

"Whatever," he grumbled, before sliding onto the boat's floorboards. It's been three days already since he'd join this weird kid on his so called journey to go to the end of the world and become the King of the Sea by obtaining the legendary Stellar Memories. He'd only tag along because of the promise of the Stellar Memories.

And that he had thought Haru was some kind of huge, famous and powerful pirate captain. He didn't think of the chance that Haru might just be a wannabe pirate (it's the latest global trend, actually) who sails the great ocean in a rundown sailboat.

Almost embarrassingly, he could remember that day he'd met the kid. It was three days ago, on the streets of Hip Hop Town…

*

The town was bustling with life as usual. Musica walked down the streets, scouting left and right for any signs of a beautiful lady. He was past a goldsmith's boutique when his eyes landed on the most beautifully shaped ass he had seen in two days time. It's not that he constantly checks people's bottoms, (he always consider the top first, for your information) but it's just those cute, pert bottoms were raised, the owner bending a bit too much from the waist.

He gulped and nodded to himself. Even though he had sworn to never take minors (well, it's impossible for someone with such delectable hips to be over legal age, right? Look at the size and the tender shape!), it wouldn't hurt to flirt with them, right?

Striding casually, he leaned a hand on top of the bended back… and got his face punched the moment he opened his mouth to speak.

The punch was painful, that he admits grimly to himself. But the punch, coming from a beauty, was even more painful to his manly pride. Holding his dear, bleeding nose tenderly, he glared at his attacker and was about to speak, when he noticed that the beauty was quite thin for someone who has a rather round ass.

His anger was washed away as dread coursed through him. No, the kid wasn't just thin; the kid was a _he_.

"What the hell are you thinking, you jerk?! Trying to steal from a kid! You really got no shame!"

The kid called him a jerk. Okay, fine. That being said towards a guy who broke up with a girl because she wasn't well-endowed made sense. But a thief? _Him_, Hamlio Musica? That's just plain baseless and unreasonable.

And then he remembered the kid shouldn't really be accusing him of thievery when it's quite clear that he wanted to grab some flesh. But oh, well. No harm done in not knowing the truth.

Deciding to play along, Musica cleared his throat and glared at the kid; a crowd was already gathering around them.

"Hey, isn't that that playboy from the pub?"

"You mean Old Man Galean's boy?"

Crap. Grumbling, he frowned at the kid and jerked his down to the right. "What do you say we talk this over with some ale at the pub? My treat."

*

"Musica! I see something!"

Feeling suddenly awake, Musica quickly scrambled up to the boat's wooden seat made of a plank and stared with wide eyes at the distant shadow of land Haru's finger was pointing at.

"An island!"

Grinning to himself, he slapped Haru's back as the boy jumped to the air with joy. _Finally_.

*

He had ended up telling the kid the truth. He could remember Old Man Galean constantly telling him countless stories about liars, of intestines being stuffed down their throat or tongues cut out or karma biting them in the ass as punishments. And even if he's already well past that age to believe an old drunkard's story, he couldn't help but just play safe.

"Listen, I'm sorry, alright?"

Haru grumbled softly under his breath. He's glaring angrily at him, and Musica's not sure if it's because of the orange juice he had ordered for the kid, or if it's that he was taken for a girl. Probably the former, he thought.

"I swear I'll do anything, okay," He offered as a consolation, not really knowing just crazy idea ran through the kid's head. "Let's just pretend nothing happened today, alright?"

Besides, the kid was just a kid. It's not like the kid could do anything frighteningly wild. And if the kid decided to ask for money, he'll just shove the kid into Old Man Galean's fireplace or bash that face with a hammer. It's not like a blacksmith's workplace was limited to forging only.

He raised an eyebrow at the kid when the latter began shaking his head wildly, as if in an internal debate. Weird, that kid really is.

"Hey, kid…"

"Haru. Just call me Haru."

Musica nodded and kept his stare. The boy was looking at him with eyes that seemed to be set on a certain goal, and now that he's thinking about it, he's starting to worry for no real reason.

"So, now that we've settled the matter, I think I should be going…"

"Wait."

Musica froze in mid-stand. He blinked and blinked again, until he saw the boy grinning. This boy must be one those freaks with bipolar disorders.

"You said anything will do, right?"

Yeah, he definitely was. Innocent boys who usually get mistaken for a girl don't grin devilishly like that.

His grin widening, Haru pointed his finger at Musica who jerked back at it, as if it's poking him. "What do you say in being a part of my crew?"

Somehow, Musica couldn't keep count of his blinks anymore. He did feel the sudden slacking of his jaw as he stared dumbly at the kid. Then he pointed at himself and let his head tilt the other side. He lost it.

Musica almost snapped his head off his neck when Haru suddenly grabbed him and dragged him out of the pub, running on a breakneck speed. Next thing he knew, he's aboard on a small ship that had seen better days, sailing to the west carrying what seemed to be a sack of stuffs he didn't bother to identify.

Then it dawned on him just what had really happened: a sixteen year old pirate-wannabe had just kidnapped him.

*

"Hey, Musica, do you think they got good food over there?"

"Is that all you could think about?"

Haru pouted at him. "I'm hungry! We haven't eaten anything for days already! And I'm sick of eating raw fishes too!"

Musica shuddered at the memory. Raw fishes… He swore he won't be able to stomach another meal of it anymore. Suddenly, his head jerked back, world turning upside down as Haru yanked real hard on his ponytail. Yes, he has one.

"Come on! I need food!"

"Stop pulling my hair!"

With a sigh, Musica pulled his hair out of the kid's grasp. "There seems to be port there on the east. Let's just sail there first and see what we can do. We need to reload on our daily needs… Haru?"

He turned to the left, then to the right. Then across him and there, he found Haru swimming to the shore. He blinked once, then twice, then thrice—

"HOLY CRAP! HARU, GET BACK HERE!"

And that was, like they all say, how it all began.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. I didn't want to save your stupid ass!

**Disclaimer: **Umi doesn't own Rave nor the world and its seas and the birth of pirates.

**Author's Notes: **Added some stuffs on Lucia's scene and fixed some more gaffes here and there...

* * *

**Surgeon General's Warning**

**2. I didn't want to save your stupid ass!**

Somewhere in headquarter of the Navies, Captain Lucia Leagrove growled as he walked down the corridor. Underlings instantly pasted themselves against the wall as he strode past in long steps. It's the fifth time of the _week_ the Marshals summoned him out of the blue, mainly because pirate fleets entering the Death Storm kept on multiplying.

He scoffed loudly, surprising an subordinate catching up to his pace. As if it's his fault.

Sneering at a cowering underling, he hurried on his way while his subordinates almost ran just to keep up with him. Never underestimate the captains. That's rule number one.

"Captain…"

"Shut up. I didn't ask you to open your mouth." He snarled at the Navy sailor to his left. And never will be, he added to himself.

Arriving before two huge oak doors, he kicked it until both hit the wall with a large slam, one of the hinges flying along with it. Every head lifted to take notice of his entrance, and the person sitting at the center groaned exasperatedly as Lucia entered the conference hall.

"How many times have I told you not to _stop _breaking the doors?"

"Shut up, old man." Lucia scowled at Marshal Shakuma. He always found it appealing that every old head in the room shook, while others grumbled about nowadays' disrespectful children. However, Shakuma simply frowned at him. He can't help it. It's his partly his fault anyway that Lucia ended up so rebellious and violent.

Without another word, Lucia took his seat next to Captain Reina, the sole female captain of the West Navy Division, and handed in his report about the sudden increase of pirate crews. Meeting began as per usual, and as routine dictated, he kept quiet, words entering one ear and leaving from the other, letting his mind wander elsewhere.

*

The street was bustling with life already when Haru and Musica left the tavern. It seemed like they had landed on Punk Street. And as they reload their supplies, Haru bargaining with the shopkeeper stubbornly, Musica made himself busy by perking his ears up and eavesdropped on other customers' gossip.

"He's here…"

"The Navy had put up posters everywhere already…"

"We gotta leave. It might get dangerous."

Everyone was whispering in hushed voices, but nothing escaped Musica's sharp hearing sense. Growing up as a silver alchemist and trained by a blacksmith, he had to listen to every sound metals made when struck, differentiating each intonation and pitch, or even the reverberation.

The customers hurried along in whatever errands they had and none of them paid him a single glance. He only looked away from the customers when Haru, wearing a smug grin, tugged his coat's sleeve. Guess they'll be having an additional day's worth of food.

They were walking down a narrower street when Musica halted mid-stride, head turning towards the moldy brick wall.

"Oi, Haru. Look." Musica said, pointing at what seems to be a torn wanted poster.

"Wanted… Dead or alive… 18,000… there seems to be some zero's missing here." Haru said, his eyes squinting. The poster was torn almost in half, leaving only half of the wanted man's face and the bounty on his head.

"The guy looks intimidating though. That must be some good seven digits," Musica noted. "But oh, well. Come on, we have to get back to the port and make sure our boat's still there."

Haru only nodded at him then followed. He had a feeling it's going to rain anyway.

*

"Say what again?"

"Bounty Hunter Shuda Balteisse is in town, sir!"

"…Whatever. Let the Knights take care of that rat."

"But sir!" The sailor felt some of his resolve shook. Punk Street's infamous Captain Lance was looming over him now, scowling and glaring as dark as the shadow covering him.

"You heard what I said, trash. Now get out!"

"Y-Yes, sir!" The sailor saluted again before running out of the captain's office. Closing the door behind him, the sailor let out a shaky breath he had been keeping from the report. He never liked reporting, especially with a captain like Captain Lance.

*

"Haru, what we need is—"

"I know damn well what we need!"

"Then what's with the umbrella?!"

Musica grabbed the collar of Haru's shirt and dragged the protesting boy out of the stall, umbrella flying back to the vendor's hand. Grumbling furiously, Musica kept on dragging the boy, telling him the difference between necessities and whatnot.

"But Musica! It's going to rain soon! And our ship doesn't have a roof!"

"Kid, the sky's so bright the sun's going to burn me crisp. There won't be any rain in Punk Street until the next six months, so let the umbrella go! Now come on! We need to get back to the port and—"

A woman cut him off, shrieking loudly as she pushed him aside then hold onto Haru. "Save me! Save me!"

Haru blinked at the woman clutching his arm, then at Musica who's nursing his head and at the rest of the people who's running towards them. Funny, they're all hiding behind his back.

"The devil! He's here!" An old man screamed at him, while another was tugging at the sword strapped behind Haru's back. Now that he's looking at it, why hadn't he noticed that sword before? "Get him outta here with your holy sword, sir!" Another girl said, this one younger than the first.

"Holy… sword…?"

Suddenly, Musica felt like he had heard the worst joke of the century. But one look at Haru made him think otherwise. Crap, he's feeling déjà vu again.

Nodding at the people hiding behind him, Haru stepped out of their crowding and ran towards the direction where they came from. Oh, _greck_!

"HARU! GET BACK HERE! What the hell are you doing?!"

As if forgetting his first mate, Haru blinked then stared up at the sky.

"To eradicate the world of evil." The kid declared in a deadpan manner.

His eyebrow, the side with the piercing, twitched. How the hell did this kid kidnap him again?

"Haru…" And off the kid goes, running straight to the plaza, where cries and screams were heard as the town devil made his way easily into it from the other side. "You've got to be kidding me."

*

Shuda wasn't a bad guy, really. People just always misunderstood him. He didn't know why, but somehow, the world had a knack of turning his words upside down. Like today, when he was saying he wouldn't dare to hate the tavern owner's daughter, the old man thought he would love to hate his pretty cherub of a daughter. Seconds later, he was literally tossed out of the tavern, the owner yelling what he _thought _Shuda said. And as expected of the famous bounty hunter turned wanted man, his temper flared at the sudden accusation. A fight followed soon, resulting to _this._

Shuddering slightly from the recurrence of said memory, Shuda hacked through the next soldier coming his way. Soon, there was an arm flying across the sky and the soldier behind said now-armless man screamed as the blood splattered on his face.

He wasn't surprised when people began whispering amongst themselves when he had walked the street under the blazing sun. It's not that he's a no-name bounty hunter anyway. He wouldn't be having his own poster with seven digits if he wasn't famous. Neither was he surprised when words reached the Navy in less than an hour, and in another hour, the Knight had dispatched what seemed like a battalion of soldiers at him.

They're good at running though, Shuda had to praise them. Those guys had chased him from the street up to downtown square until he reached the plaza, the centermost part of Punk Street.

Sparing a glance behind him, he saw another wave of soldiers coming, now with guns. Ah, not good now, not when he only uses sword and too busy with the soldiers in front of him.

Growling, he grabbed his second katana and quickly blocked two swords, one from the side and other the front. With a bunch of arm muscles, he pushed the two katanas forward, forcing the two to stumble backward and fall on their comrades, starting a domino effect.

Another group of soldiers had already arrived by the time he was able to dash to the back of the plaza. They fired and Shuda was about to dodge it if it wasn't for the sudden blinding light that hit his eyes and made him cringed and shut them. A second later, his eyes peered open and saw what seemed to be an idiotic kid with an idiotic grin plastered on his face, bending over him beside an idiotic man with an idiotic ponytail and idiotic piercing, wearing what seems to be, yes, an idiotic frown.

Well, that was stupid. Shuda never thought his life could get worse than this.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Don't be an ass! Listen when I explain!

**Disclaimer: **Umi doesn't own Rave nor the world and its seas and the birth of pirates.**  
Author's Notes: **A bit different here and there, but nothing major, I suppose. It's been ages since I last wrote 1k worth of words for a chapter. It suddenly felt... lighter. Hrm. Oh well.

* * *

**Surgeon General's Warning**

**3. Don't be an ass and listen when I explain!**

Shuda's used to oddities, especially when his life was anything but ordinary. He's also used to idiots, with the number of people he had to interact with when certain people were just so hard to track down. Even the kid with stupid grins and long ponytails, thinking they're so cool when in reality they're transvestites.

It just made him sad that this time, this bunch of idiots he had to deal with weren't the same kind of idiots he had gotten used to.

It's not everyday that he met and get stuck with idiotic boys who wanted to 'eradicate the world of evils' when he's a pirate; a pirate captain to be exact. Sure, he had countless of affairs with certain Navy captains that are easy to persuade, but falling prey to a newbie in the pirating world, may he be the Rave Master or not who happened to be more than a decade younger than him? That's just too embarrassing for a man of his caliber.

"See? I told you he won't be able to digest the fact."

"But he has to! He'll be a great member!"

"Kid, the guy is a freaking wanted man. Look at the amount of Edel he got in his head!"

"But he's just too cool to ignore! And did you see what he did with his swords? It's so cool!"

Shuda was sure he saw sparkles from those eyes. He was very sure of it. And for the first time in his entire life, Shuda found himself wanting to get away from this crazed boy and take the life of a criminal. But no, Fates (or was it the Furies?) decided to make him the butt of their joke. Now, he's stuck with this kid, who's arguing with what seems to be his first mate, the idiot with that stupid ponytail.

How did things end up like this again? Oh, yeah.

*

The sound of silver clashing against iron blade caught Shuda's attention again. He looked up and saw the idiot with the stupid ponytail keeping off ten soldiers at bay with a silver spear. He hadn't seen a weapon made of pure silver in ages. Maybe this idiot wasn't as stupid as his hair looked like. Most silverclaimers were level-headed anyway, and made of pure common sense, like any kind of alchemists.

A cry from behind had him turning around, only to gape at the sight of a boy swinging a huge broadsword. The kid had perfected the skills of holding one, it seemed. Just who the hell were these two?

Then the kid charged at all of the soldiers, and soon, Shuda found himself beating the hell out of every soldiers with the two newcomers. Not even the approaching shadow from the street up ahead caught his attention as he hacked through a soldier then two of its comrades. Somewhere near him, the idiotic silverclaimer had sent fifteen to twenty men flying.

"EXPLOSION!"

The explosion part totally caught his attention. Shuda whipped his head to the side to find where it came from. He nearly tripped when he saw the kid holding not just any ordinary broadsword, but a smaller one with runes engraved on the orange blade.

Then it clicked on his head; this kid wasn't an ordinary kid. This kid might be the freaking Rave Master, just like what that stupid old man had warned him of before leaving Rabarriah.

"No way," he blurted out. There's just no way a rundown kid that frail in size could be the Rave Master! And besides, that old bastard did say the kid's aiming for the Navy and—

His body spun around and kicked an assailant flying, then grabbed the one next to him and threw him as well, sending three more men down to their bottoms, his sword blocking an attack from the other side. Picking his other sword from the ground, he ran straight toward and kid and grabbed him by the collar.

"Oi! Silverclaimer!" He yelled over his shoulder. He didn't bother to check anymore if the alchemist heard him or not. He just ran away, swords on one hand while the other held the Rave Master, with the silver alchemist following close by.

It didn't comfort him at all, now that he realized he had just indebted himself to this kid and the silverclaimer.

*

Sighing, Shuda glared at the two arguing boys. Indeed, he never expected the Rave Master to be _him_, of all people.

_"Say hi to him for me."_

_"I want you to stop chasing him."_

_"That kid of mine is a Rave Master! He's probably going to join the Navy…"_

_"I'm warning you. Once you become a pirate, my protection won't reach you anymore."_

_"I sort of feel guilty, you know, for making him want to become a pirate instead of a good Navy like his granddad."_

_"I will _never_ forgive you if you eat your words, Shuda Balteisse."_

Brushing those memories and voices away, Shuda grabbed his two katanas and used them as leverage to bring himself up to his feet. The two arguing boys had finally taken notice of him, since they stopped talking. They're both staring at him with slightly wide eyes. It was the younger one, the Rave Master he dully noted, who spoke first.

"So then, are you joining our—"

"No."

"Okay. You're in."

Shuda stared at the kid, dumbfounded. Did he even _listen_? "Look, kid. I don't have time to bullshit—"

"I know. That's why I didn't bother with the interviews anymore."

If only Shuda could punch the kid's irking innocent smile off his face, he would have done it when they were in the plaza. But Shuda couldn't bring himself to. Somehow, the Furies (he realized it's the Furies when the kid did tell him he's the Rave Master) had made it clear he must prepare himself to be stuck with this boy for a long, _long_ time.

_"I'm warning you. Once you become a pirate, my protection won't reach you anymore."_

Ah, what the hell. Can he risk it for this? Then again, there's also _that_ other voice.

Shaking his head, Shuda shrugged then wrapped the two swords with a deep purple clothe, tying it with a string. "If you want me in, kid, you have to earn it."

Haru blinked at him curiously. Well, that was disarming, if he could say so himself. A child's innocence and naivety are, after all, not to be underestimated, this he learned from years of dealing with said troublesome kids.

"Right." The kid responded enthusiastically, nodding. Shuda sighed then turned around. Alright, where's he supposed to go now? Oh, yeah. The sundries—

"HARU!"

Shuda yelled in pain when something hard and _silver_ hit the back of his head.

"There. I win." Haru said, grinning smugly at the redhead swordsman. Shuda only turned to glare at the kid murderously. This kid is a _complete _replica of that darn old bastard. Stick thin, terribly naïve, sickeningly manipulative and too witty for his own good, he's a Glory alright, and could be Glory enough to be a pirate captain.

Tossing all of his concerns over his shoulder, Shuda grinned back at the kid and grabbed the kid's—no, his _captain's_ hand. Screw Clockboy's warning. He can't back away from an offer worth so many Edels (and heads), especially when he's running short of it.

*

Sighing, Sieg closed the book. He had been trying to get past the third paragraph of the sixty-second's page for the past fifteen point zero-four minutes ever since Lance decided to inform him about a notorious bounty hunter slash wanted man and two mishaps (a brat and a silverclaimer) in the street, beating the hell out of the Knights stationed at Punk Street. He didn't pay much attention though to the buffoon's ramblings at first, until the mention of the said bounty hunter is an accomplice of a Rave Master.

Sieg frowned at the book's cover, his finger playing with its spine. Surely that idiot wasn't planning on ignoring his warning, right? The possibility of that thought made him frown even more.

He pulled out of his reverie when his door suddenly opened with a loud slam, heady perfume staining his entire office with its disgusting scent.

"Oh, Sieg! Guess what I have found! It seems like—"

"Iulius, leave."

Mahogany eyes stared at Sieg incredulously, as if he heard the other said the impossible. When the other Captain didn't make a notion of hearing his command, he threw the book straight at Iulius.

"OI!"

He nearly swore when the book only hit the side of Iulius' head, enough to send him tumbling to the floor. If only it had hit right on the center of his face…

Sieg glared at the fallen heap of body, then at the book lying on the floor. Another book had gone to waste. He went to collect the book and put it back on its shelf, before noticing the letter that had slipped from the pages. His lips pulled into a frown as his memories remembered the letter's content. He could only hope Shuda wasn't stupid enough to actually become a pirate.

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Only an ass would try to steal from me

**Disclaimer: **Umi doesn't own Rave nor the world and its seas and the birth of pirates.

**Author's Notes: **Short... really short.

* * *

**Surgeon General's Warning**

**4. Only an ass would try to steal from me**

Haru just stared at what happened to his comrades. He had no idea whether he should laugh at their stupidity or ignore their misfortunes. All he did was wonder what happened to the two, especially with his new recruit.

They were walking another alleyway around Punk Street, just for the sake of avoiding the Knights, the land-equivalent of the Navy. Haru had stubbornly refused at first, but Shuda insisted they shouldn't take any risk if they don't want to get caught.

So, they walk.

From a stinky alleyway to a dirty one until they end up in a street void of life. Deciding that it's finally safe, they allowed themselves a break. After a few moments, Haru decided to heed the call of nature and the two just stayed in their places, waiting. But by the time he came rushing back to the two after hearing loud yells and strings of curses, Haru found his two men tied to each other's back… and only in their boxers. At least someone was nice enough to leave them their shoes—in Shuda's case, his coat—even if it did little justice.

"Don't just stand there! Untie us now!"

Haru sighed. Glaring at Musica, he grabbed the small knife hidden underneath his jacket's left sleeve and cut the rope. Swearing, Shuda shoved Musica to the side and quickly buttoned his coat. Haru was very sure the embarrassed blush didn't leave the redhead's face _at all_. With a huge grin, Haru looked at Musica and threw his own jacket at the silverclaimer.

"So, care to explain?"

"Some bitch just fucking stole our clothes!" Musica swore again, trying to pull his boxer's waistband higher.

"Don't forget my swords too, damn it." Beside him, Haru had finally taken notice of Shuda's coat…. And it's furriness. "You killed animals for that, you know." The younger boy suddenly said, his finger pointed Shuda accusingly. "Good for you.

Musica saw the vein popping in Shuda's head, and how he suddenly grabbed the boy by the head. It was all he could do to hide a smirk when Haru got smacked. That kid deserved it anyway.

"Anyway, let's find that girl and get our stuffs back." Musica said, crossing his arms. It would have been really convincing, if only he wasn't wearing a jacket sizes too small, striped boxers and dress shoes.

Shuda then narrowed his eyes in thought while Haru pouted, clearly peeved.

"I'm the cap—"

"You reckon where she run off to?"

"Oi! Don't igno—"

"Yeah, she ran straight there." Musica pointed further down the street, leading to the bazaars. Somewhere between them, Haru's throwing the ignored-captain fits.

"We have to hurry," Shuda nodded and crossed his arms too. "I have a bad feeling she's going to sell them."

"Stop ignoring me! Oi!"

Musica's frowned darkened, but not before he remembered the poor kid waving his arms like mad. Eyes trailing to their seething captain (how _adorable_), they saw much to their chagrin that the boy was sitting on the dirty street with both arms and legs crossed, glaring… no, _pouting _at both of them.

A bushy red eyebrow twitched. Leaning slightly, Shuda whispered softly to Musica, though his eyes didn't leave Haru.

"Will I be dealing with more of this in the future?"

"Uh… considering you can't just leave this crew… yeah."

"'If it can even be considered as a crew," Shuda would like to add, but thought otherwise as the two of them grabbed the kid by the arms and went to the bazaars, dragging a protesting Haru along the ground.

*

"And what gave you the idea that he's there?"

"Because he _is_ there. I saw him with my own two eyes."

"Then go and get them checked."

"…"

Sieg stared dully at the arguing pair, Iulius not wanting to lose to Lance's judgment—or the lack thereof. But it's not like Iulius had made any sense either for the past fifteen minutes. So frankly, he didn't know why he's bothering to watch them banter. He didn't even know why he's wasting his time coming all the way from Eastern Experiment Base to here in Punk Street. Lance's already a captain, though a little useless and stupid.

As for Iulius…

His head throbbed in pain at the mere memory of it. At any given time of the day, that flamboyant moron would always take any chance to be outside the base, itching to leave the huge metropolis. Sieg himself couldn't even believe he was able to make it this far into Punk Street without bleeding an ear, stuck with the noisy captain.

"Sieggy! Tell him _he_ can't be here!"

"Oi! Who the hell are you pointing that finger at?!"

Then Sieg bored his gaze at Iulius steadily. His eyes locked with those mahogany ones, trying to burn another mole into his face (Iulius had always claimed he was the one responsible for that certain mole under his eye), until the man flinched and turned away, grumbling.

"Dispatch Squad B, Captain Lance. Tell the Knight's headquarters there's no more need for any Knights. From this point on, I'm letting Lieutenant Go handle the rest."

"Eh? We're going to handle this case?"

"Dismissed."

"Sieg!"

He left the meeting room as fast as he could, high-tailing his way out of the Navy base without daring a glance over his shoulder to check on Iulius.

Being left inside the room with a grinning, arrogant and dumb fellow captain was like grating a frozen cheese, in Iulius' opinion. Sneering at the town's captain, Iulius quickly departed from the base, spotting for the blue-haired captain outside. He's _so _going to get that stuck-up drunk.

*

"Eh? So the guy did send something."

"Yeah. I highly suggest that we heed—" Alpine's eyes widened suddenly as Shiba threw the still-wrapped box over his shoulder. The box made a loud splashing sound when it hit the sea surface. Blinking, Alpine stared from the deck's railings to his captain who's sitting on a barrel, looking quite casual with just a plain white dress shirt and black trousers. He was only identified as the captain because of the huge sword beside him, leaning against another barrel.

"You… do know that box contained substances of highly dangerous poison that may just kill every sea creature in this part of the ocean, do you?"

Strangely green eyes inquired the Symphonia Knight's captain, a frown marring Alpine Spaniel's delicate face. His captain just grinned broadly, swinging another bottle of rum.

"Tell me, do you know from the very start or do you just find it humorous throwing it away like that?"

Shiba grinned at his green haired first mate and tapped the floor of the deck with worn black boots. "Both." He answered, flashing Alpine one of his trademark grins.

"You worry too much, Alpine," a new voice entered their conversation. Shiba greeted Dalmation with another grin, infuriating his right-hand even more. "Besides, I'm sure that Ogre never means well-health to Shiba."

Symphonia Knight's medical specialist, Dalmatian stepped up onto the deck, the pipe never leaving its perch between his lips. Nodding at the physician, Alpine welcomed him but sighed when a seeming loud booming voice and light footsteps so opposite from the first followed the physician's footsteps. "And I'll have to say, Captain here sure is pretty stupid, throwing something like that away! We could have used it!"

"And then what? Get our mothership blown to bits? Grab yourself a brain, you oaf!"

Shiba smirked at them. Finally, all of his crew—the original and main one, that is—were here. His grin widened even more when Dalmatian edged away from the large burly figure of Deerhound, who's being punched in the head by Clair Maltese. Alpine just sighed at the two new additions, receiving a pat on the back from his captain. He had been doing a lot of that the entire day, anyway. No harm done in doing it again.

Looking out at the sky, Shiba idly fingered his sword's hilt. The sky had never been this blue before, being able to blend with the sea, with the clouds dancing gaily above.

The new shift of wind had given him a new feeling, something that made him grin brightly, expecting something big coming up.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
